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“This is a very significant find and the first Bronze Age find on the Crossrail project. We know from other sites nearby that this area was probably crisscrossed by a network of pathways........Although we haven’t identified an actual track way yet, the timbers are similar to those used to make the track ways and certainly show that people were in the area exploiting the woodland. This is a promising find as we continue our search for evidence of a Bronze Age transport route along where London’s newest railway will run.”

The Crossrail archaeology programme has also unearthed its first Bronze Age finds - although these won't form part of the exhibition.

Two wooden stakes, cut by early London hunters with an axe, and a hammer stone have been discovered at excavations at Plumstead.

Historians believe these may have been used to build a large network of timber pathways across east London, which may have made it easier for hunters to catch animals living in the lush wetlands some 3,500 years ago.

An archaeologist unearths a Bronze Age wooden stake. Credit: Crossrail.

A hammer stone, which would have been used as a tool. Credit: Crossrail.